Walking on Thin Ice
by Kitten With A Tie
Summary: Tigerpaw is the slave of ThunderClan. Full summary inside! My very first torture/slave fic. R&R! Rated M because I'm paranoid.
1. Allegiance and Prologue

**Summary: Tigerpaw of ThunderClan is treated like a curse. None of her Clanmates trust her, and all the apprentices look down on her, and the worst part is that she is a slave- literally, a slave. But what happens when Tigerpaw finds love with a WindClan tom, and escapes her evil Clan?**

**ThunderClan**

**Leader**

**Bloodstar- dark brown tomcat**

**Deputy**

**Leopardstorm- light brown she-cat with pale underbelly**

**Medicine Cat**

**Silverfeather- pale gray tabby**

**Apprentice, **_Sparkpaw_

**Warriors (tom and she-cats with or without kits)**

**Moonpelt- blue-gray she-cat**

**Sparrowclaw- large dark gray tom**

**Apprentice, **_Crowpaw_

**Hawklight- pretty brown tabby**

**Apprentice, **_Heatherpaw_

**Cloudspot- fluffy gray tabby**

**Cinderbeam- small blue tabby she-cat**

**Badgernose- large dark brown tom with white stripe on snout**

**Apprentice, **_Dustpaw_

**Gingersnout- ginger she-cat**

**Ashcloud- grey tom**

**Apprentice, **_Jaypaw_

**Willownose- white she-cat with grey paws**

**Boulderpelt- stocky grey tom with blue eyes**

**Briarleg- brown she-cat**

**Mudstripe- brown tom with darker paws and tail tip**

**Apprentice, **_Sandpaw_

**Apprentices**

**Sparkpaw- pale gold she-cat**

**Crowpaw- smoky grey tom**

**Heatherpaw- pale brown tabby she-cat**

**Dustpaw- brown tabby tom**

**Jaypaw- grey tom**

**Sandpaw- pale ginger tom**

**Queens (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)**

**Fernstrike- grey tabby**

**Elders (retired warriors or queens)**

**Mousefang- old brown tabby with graying snout**

**Prisoners (loners, rouges, or useless cats)**

**Tigerpaw- brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes**

_**-x.x-**_

_Tigerpaw grunted with pain as _Gingerpaw lashed out at her, clawing her snout. "I wanted a squirrel!" she yowled, sending another blow to her cheek. Tigerpaw dropped the vole on the ground and bounded towards the fresh-kill pile before Gingerpaw could hit her again. She waited patiently for her turn to the fresh-kill pile. "You already ate," snarled a brown she-cat, clawed at Tigerpaw's ear. "I..."

"How dare you talk back!" Briarleg grabbed Tigerpaw's scruff and shook her. A few warriors laughed at Tigerpaw as Briarleg dropped her on the ground. Briarleg kicked Tigerpaw in the side, and the brown she-cat rolled away, her eyes closed.

She got to her paws shakily. If she didn't get the squirrel for Gingerpaw... well, she didn't want to think about it. Darting forward, she grabbed the fattest squirrel on the pile and ran nimbly to where Gingerpaw lay.

"You were too slow!" snarled Gingerpaw, and she raked her claws over the side of Tigerpaw's face. "I'm sorry, master," she murmured, lowering her head.

Dustpaw and Sandpaw laughed at Tigerpaw. "Now, go get us some prey!" Dustpaw sneered. Tigerpaw flattened her ears. The tom knew darn well that she would just get kicked away again, but she just ran to the fresh-kill pile again.

_Dustpaw likes mice, _Tigerpaw murmured. _And Sandpaw likes voles. _She grabbed the prey and ran over to where the three apprentices sprawled.

"Good," Dustpaw meowed. "Now go and clean our nests." Tigerpaw nodded her head obidiently and padded to the medicine den. Silverfeather was mixing herbs together in a rock- Tigerpaw let out a rusty purr. She had found that rock one day. It was large and grey, with a big hole in the middle- and Sparkpaw was rubbing herbs on Boulderpelt.

"Oh, it's you." Silverfeather didn't hide her hostility. "What do you want?" she asked dryly. "I need moss," Tigerpaw replied. Silverfeather shoved a clump of moss towards her. "Now get out of here!" Silverfeather sliced open Tigerpaw's nose. She was oblivious to the pain as she ran to the apprentice den.

Tigerpaw cleaned out the nests. They were dry and prickly, and hurt her paws. She pushed the dry moss out of the den and into the entrance and began to make nests out of them when she heard a yowl of rage and pain.

"Ow!" the voice screeched. Tigerpaw turned her head to see Crowpaw standing in the entrance to the den, with dry moss covering his pelt and paws. "You!" yowled Crowpaw. "You did this!"

With a roar of rage, the smoky gray tom leaped at Tigerpaw.

_**-x.x-**_

**Okay, here's some stuff.**

**-Tigerpaw is a slave. She was born in the day of a battle, so her Clan shunned her.**

**-All the apprentices can hit, beat, and order her around.**

**-Warriors aren't allowed to order her around, but they can hit her.**

**Soooooo... poor Tigerpaw. :C Review, please!**


	2. Chapter 1: The Stick

**So, we left about when Tigerpaw was about to be mauled...**

_**-x.x-**_

_Tigerpaw yowled in pain as _Crowpaw dug his claw's into the side of her pelt. Then he tore his teeth through her hind leg, and blood spilled everywhere, turning Crowpaw's smoky grey pelt black. He planted a unsheathed paw on her back, and forced her tail in between her legs. "Jaypaw," Crowpaw mewed, his voice full of venom. "Hand me that stick!" The grey tom grabbed a sharp stick in his jaws and handed it to Crowpaw.

Crowpaw began to slap Tigerpaw's rear with the stick. The sharp barbs stung her raw body, and a few of the thorns got stuck in the mangled fur of her hindquarters.

Crowpaw shoved Tigerpaw away, and the slave tumbled through the dust and dirt and lay on the ground, feeling broken and defeated. "And _thats _how you beat a slave," Crowpaw announced proudly.

Tigerpaw closed her eyes. Why did she have to be born on the day of the battle that killed Stormstar? Silverfeather announced that the kit was cursed, and Tigerpaw's mother, Willownose, was horrified. Willownose gave birth to two other kits, but they were stillborn, and Willownose blamed Tigerpaw.

Many cats tried to reason with the grief-stricken queen, but she refused to listen to any of them. Willownose suggested to Darkstar that her kit became a slave- a cat who was useless. A cat who was beaten everyday. A cat to clean dirt and nests and groom pelts.

Tigerpaw knew that Stormstar would not have let there be slaves. He would've forced Willownose to stop grieving for her dead kits and care for her living one. Willownose was the first to injure Tigerpaw- she nipped the kit when Tigerpaw accidently bit one of Willownose's teats when she was nursing.

When Tigerpaw became an apprentice, Darkstar decided that she would not get a mentor. He made the Mousefang dig a hole in the ground, and then he shoved Tigerpaw into it. She nearly broke her legs, but she survived. Darkstar had hoped that Tigepaw would've died from the fall, but she didn't.

One day, a queen was pushed into the hole. It was Nightspring- she was expecting the kits of a WindClan tom. Darkstar only fed the cats once a day, and Tigerpaw always gave her meal to Nightspring.

The black she-cat gave birth to four healthy kits- three toms, one she-cat- but Boulderpelt came into the hole and killed all the kits in front of their mother. Nightspring shrieked in rage and she launched herself at the tom.

Boulderpelt knocked the queen down with one swipe and then killed her by slashing open her throat. Then the stocky grey tom kicked the bodies away and climbed out of the hole, where many warriors praised him.

Tigerpaw had mourned Nightspring, for she was the only friend she had ever made.

"Get up!" Tigerpaw grunted as she felt teeth lock on her hindleg. It was Jaypaw. Every warrior and apprentice in the Clan had beaten her, but not Jaypaw. The blue tom had been brave to tell Darkstar that he did not want to beat Tigerpaw, since in order to become an apprentice, the kits had to beat Tigerpaw. Darkstar had sliced open Jaypaw's nose, sneering that he was a weak little mongrel. Jaypaw had calmly replied, "Says the cat whose mother was halfClan." Darkstar had nearly killed Jaypaw, but Leopardstorm had told him that the kit was not worth it and that "He would make a good slave." But Fernstrike had insisted that her son became a warrior, so here Jaypaw was, a sharp-tonuged apprentice.

"What do you want?" Tigerpaw rasped, her rear hurting, and her new wounds throbbing. "Come on." Tigerpaw got to her feet and followed the blue-gray tom suspisciously.

Jaypaw led her to her hole. It was large and round, and Tigerpaw carefully stepped inside and slid down the bumpy walls. She padded over to her nest, which was only a few scraggly weeds tied together. Tigerpaw shivered as she looked at the walls- she could make out the rotting bodies of Nightspring. Tigerpaw had buried them, but sometimes Boulderpelt or Mudstripe would come down and dig up the bodies and hang them on the walls.

"Here." Jaypaw dropped something in the hole- it was a plump rabbit. Tigerpaw darted over and devoured the rabbit in a few famished bites.

She looked up at the blue tom and smiled, which was something she rarely did. "Thank you," she meowed. Jaypaw dipped his head before turning and padding away.

_**-x.x-**_


	3. Chapter 2: Trial

**Hah, thanks for all the reviews, but JayxTiger probably won't happen. I have someone else in mind.**

_**-x.x-**_

_Today is the day, Tigerpaw _thought as Ashcloud's scruffy head appeared in the hole which hovered high above her head. "Hey, slave!" he yowled. "Your trial is today." Tigerpaw sighed as she waited for Ashcloud to lower the tendril. She tied it around her middle carefully with her tail, then grunted in pain as the grey tom began to drag her up. "You're heavier then you were a few moons ago," Ashcloud mused as he glowered at the slave. "Have you been sneaking food into your little cave?"

Tigerpaw gulped. She hoped the older warrior wouldn't go down into her home and look for the hole which she used to hunt for herself. "No-"  
"Did I tell you to speak?" Ashcloud roared and cuffed the apprentice hard over the side of her head. Tigerpaw whimpered and crouched down and rolled to her side, submitting herself to the giant cat.

"Weak mongrel," he muttered and grabbed her by the scruff and dragged her towards the highrock. Bloodstar was on the rock above. In front of him was a log, and there were many claw marks on it.

"Cats of ThunderClan," he announced, "Tigerpaw's trial begins today." He glared at the battered apprentice, who weakly looked up and met his menacing golden stare. "She shall go a whole moon without eating, and when that moon is over, she must battle the strongest warrior in order to prove herself a worthy slave." His eyes landed on Hawkflight, the newest warrior. "You shall fight this weak halfClan traitor." Tigerpaw wasn't halfClan, but Bloodstar had to call her _something._

The Clan yowled hiss words, and Tigerpaw jumped back as the log fell in front of her. As she placed her paw on it, it creaked underneath the weight of her paw. She narrowed her eyes as her eyes flicked over the claw marks, which were short and jagged, standing out against the dirt brown log.

"Oh StarClan," she whimpered to herself, "its been a moon already." Every moon, Tigerpaw had to go a moon without feeding herself. Last time she had to fight Sparrowclaw, and he nearly tore her to pieces.

This time, her eyes fell apon Hawkflight, who was being praised by other warriors. "Come," ordered Badgernose, who was Hawkflight's former mentor. "I shall go over your battle moves."

Hawkflight looked baffled. "But she's only an appretice!" she protested. "She's had no battle training, and she's as weak as a kit. I say I fight her now!" As she spoke, her voice rose, and her cocky blue gaze met Tigerpaw's.

Tigerpaw sighed and escorted herself to the den, and she jumped into it, landing on all fours. She was suddely in darkness as a thin grating sound filled her ears.

A cat was pushing a lid, made out of weaved sticks, mud, and reeds, over the hole. Luckily she would be able to breath and sun and moonlight could come through.

"Happy harvesting!" she heard Mudstripe jeer, and Tigerpaw was relieved as his heavy footsteps thundered away. She scraped together her scattered nest of twigs and dry, smelly moss and collapsed in it, hoping that she would survive this time.

_**-x.x-**_


	4. Chapter 3: The New Cat

**Making it 'I.' And its the POV of Tigerpaw.**

_**-x.x-**_

_Thump._

Then a groan of pain.

My head shot up, and my stomach growled, which saved me from growling my already dried up throat. It turned out that the cats had found out about my escape route and had sealed it off with rocks and sticks. I could still hear Boulderpelt sneering, "Nice try, halfClan!" And then parading after Bloodstar.

"Who is it?" I rasped, getting to my feet and wobbling a little. The cat groaned again. I struggled to find out where he was, and my whiskers trembled and I stretched out my eyes. I sniffed the air, inhaling the grassy and musky scents.

WindClan.

This cat was WindClan! "What are you doing here?" I spat dryly. The cat lifted his head, and his amber eyes shone dullyly in the dim light.

"Attack," he rasped. "Hunt in... moor. Came... no where." He lowered his head, and I noticed blood on his pelt. "Claw.. blood... Sedgewhisker... dead... Ashfoot... dead..." His amber eyes suddenly flashed, then they went dull.

I crept towards him, ears pricked and eyes alert for any sign of movement. I sniffed his pelt, and located a deep gash on his hind leg and a powerful bite on his shoulder. One of his ears were shredded, and there was a small cut on the back of his head.

I had to put our Clan differences apart. I licked at the cuts, and then I fell asleep, curled up beside his warm, frail body.

_**-x.x-**_

**YEY. Two chapters in one day!**


End file.
